Geeks To Go is a helpful hub, where thousands of volunteer geeks quickly serve friendly answers and support. Check out the forums and get free advice from the experts. Register now to gain access to all of our features, it's FREE and only takes one minute. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more.

Need Laptop Opinions

CrimsonChas

Posted 17 November 2008 - 12:36 AM

CrimsonChas

New Member

Member

1 posts

So, here I am. I'm stuck. I'm having a laptop/notebook bought as a Christmas gift. This will be for all purposes, internet used. I have a desktop gaming system, so I'm not looking for 'amazing'. Besides, someone else is buying it so I'd prefer to get one of those mainstream basic buys. The thing is, I'm really stuck between two options. I've done research on both and of course, they both have their Ups and Downs. So, I'd be really interested in hearing any personal experience or even your own opinions as to what your choice would be if these were sitting in front of you (even if you wouldn't necessarily buy them).

I've had an HP/Compaq desktop in the past that I pretty much ended up gutting and upgrading everything, in the past. There's always that ongoing battle of Intel versus AMD in my head and I just cannot make my mind up between the two. These both retail in between the $700-$900 range and while I know they are not THE best, they both suit my purpose of a laptop for the time being.

The question is, what gives more bang for the buck? I've heard nothing but great things about Toshiba laptops and I've heard good and bad about HP laptops (and desktops).

I don't care about the bloatware. I'll be getting rid of any software that comes included - that goes for Norton as well. The specs that I do love about them is the Toshiba has an ATI Raedon vid card and the HP display is ridiculous nice for the price range (I've seen it in purpose and not yet seen the 17" Toshiba) - which brings me to the fact that the 17" screen on the Toshiba isn't a selling point for me. I run a network at home and the best installed wireless card will be a huge selling point for me.

So, what do you guys think? Any opinion or personal experience is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Check this out I don't know what your price range is but this is a pretty good notebook for someone who already has a desktop. I would definitely go with HP, i have one and the notebook is great...
I would go with the Turion over the core 2 mobile, when it comes down to price versus performance the turion wins. Don't get me wrong Intel make s a great CPU but the price is up there, and AMD makes a great processor too. So i would, and have for myself, always gone with AMD and never looked back.

Also a big selling point is HP's outstanding customer service. i E-mailed them on a Sunday afternoon about something and in 2 hours i had a resonce from a real person answering a specific question. you can't beat that.

I saw you went with 3gb of ram on both your configurations...don't bother.
The problem with 3gb is it can't be run in duel channel so you take a big loss from the final GB. For the price you better of going with 2GB. For this you should run vista 32 bit
If price isn't your concern then go with vista 64 and upgrade to 4gb.
The configuration i built for you is 64 bit with 4 gb and that isn't that bad. HP has sales all the time on free upgrades to vista 64 or 4gb of ram. so either way your getting one for free.

check it out and tell me what you think.
ill reply if you have any questions on it